U.S. Oilfield Services Company Wins Oil Cleanup Challenge in Worldwide Competition

Elastec/American Marine, which makes oil spill and environmental equipment, just won The Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X Challenge, a yearlong competition with participants from all over the world vying for who could achieve the highest oil recovery and efficiency rates from surface seawater.

Elastec won $1.4 million in first place prize money last week. “During a ceremony in New York, it was announced that we exceeded the competition’s oil recovery requirement of 2,500 gpm (gallons per minute) with 70 percent efficiency (oil recovered in percentage to water).

“Our new ‘Grooved Disc Skimmer’ was able to recover 4,670 gpm with an 89.5 percent efficiency, more than three times the industry’s previous best oil recovery rate tested in controlled conditions,” said the company.

The second place winner receiving a prize of $300,000 was NOFI Tromsø AS, a Norway oil spill control developer specializing in oil boom technology.

NOFI used a single vessel unit called the ‘Current Buster 6’ which collects, separates, and stores oil in a current up to five knots. The system incorporates a flexible v-shaped surface boom that when towed, corrals oil down to the end of the V where a separator removes it from the water.

NOFI’s Current Buster 6 technology being demonstrated last summer at Ohmsett – the National Oil Spill Response Research & Renewable Energy Test Facility in Leonardo, N.J. Photo courtesy of NOFI.

NOFI’s cleanup method had an oil recovery rate of 271.2 gpm, and 83 percent oil-to-water recovery rate for the ‘oil recovery efficiency’ requirement of the competition.

Click to read more ...